Vending machines have been present in the marketplace for decades, but as technology in the vending field and in electronics in general has evolved, vending machines are increasingly shilling from items of mere convenience to central aspects of business strategy. In many ways, a modern vending machine can now come close to fully replacing a brick-and-mortar retail establishment.
Several features are desirable in a modern, integrated vending apparatus designed for a retail environment. Expediting and streamlining the vending process would increase efficiency, quality, repeatability, and profitability. One means of speeding up vending is by automating functions of the vending process traditionally performed manually. This goal may be achieved by implementing an inventory management apparatus that includes a robot and various computerized elements to monitor the items for sale within the vending apparatus. Another desirable feature is to emphasize interchangeable parts within the vending apparatus, such that different items for sale may be added and subtracted quickly. By minimizing the number of physical visits that a human must make to assess the status of the vending apparatus, costs of implementing and maintaining the vending apparatus may be substantially streamlined.
One attempt at an automated inventory system in a vending environment is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,695,166 (the '166 patent) issued to Long on Feb. 24, 2004. In particular, the '166 patent discloses a vending machine containing one or more racks of stacked products. One or more of the racks within the machine includes an array of capacitive switches that are aligned with the height of the stacked products on the rack. A controller senses the height of stacked products on the rack based on signals sent by the array of capacitive switches. Systems and methods disclosed in the '166 patent may enable the controller to correlate the height of the products to a discrete inventory count for the product, and may transmit the count to a remote device.
Although the systems and methods disclosed in the '166 patent may assist with managing the inventory of a vending machine, the disclosed system is limited. The '166 system would not be readily adaptable to multiple types of products, as an array of capacitive switches that fits one product well may have to be completely redeployed and reprogrammed for different types of products. Further, information communicated from the vending machine to the remote device is limited only to the number of products in each rack of the vending machine. The '166 system contains significant efficiency limitations that would not make it ideal for a merchant seeking to market products to consumers in a sophisticated vending apparatus.
The disclosed system is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above and/or elsewhere in the prior art.